30+ hours of hardcore removal and still no luck

I have followed the steps in both :

READ ME FIRST BEFORE ASKING FOR SUPPORT: Basic Spyware, Trojan And Virus Removal

and

When all else fails - Generic Solution to HSA (Only the Best) & About:Blank hijack

Things that happened during my attempts...

Pre-checking boards--- Ran adaware, spybot sd and microsoft antispyware... these scans found approx 4,500 signatures to remove.

Once I started following boards.

1. There were none of the listed services running.

2. The online virus scanners found 9 programs to remove.

3. spybot, adaware found approx 100 seperate items to remove.

4. secondary tools remove a few more items.

Problem my homepage if I open interenet explorer keeps on going to www.securityerror.com and wanting me to download spytrooper. (Before I got involved someone clicked on all available links suggested for them to download items. For days. SIGH)

I have spent hours in the registry trying to find anything that can be deleted and at this point I have become quite generous in extra programs deleted. There is one program to which I am unable to gain permission.

hkey_local_machine\software\shudderLTD\PSGuard\license

If I try to set permissions on the folder it just says: "Unable to display security info"
I am also unable to manipulate the settings of this folder through use of child permissions on parent folders.

I used a secondary computer to follow directions explicitly from this site so as not to have browsers open. All files viewable, restore off, physically disconnected from the internet.

When I run hijack another hint at the problem surfaces:

O2 - BHO: HomepageBHO - {3bf1f86f-b1a8-489b-8d8b-43781d51411f} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\hp8E5.tmp

No matter what I do it keeps on coming back.

Desperately looking for help on this one. Will post logs when instructed.


Thanks, Sean

 

- Download HijackThis 1.99.1

- Unzip the hijackthis.exe file to a folder you create named C:\Program Files\HJT

- Do NOT run Hijack This from the Desktop, a temp folder, or a sub-folder of C:\Documents and Settings, or choose to run it directly from the downloaded ZIP file.

- Before running HijackThis: You must close each of the following:your web browser, e-mail client, instant messenger, and programs like notepad, wordpad, MS Word etc. And any other unnecessary running programs.

- Run HijackThis and save your log file.

- Post your log as an ATTACHMENT to your next message. (Do NOT copy/paste the log into your post).

 

Thanks for your time Shadow_Puter_Dude,

Also new is about 5 minutes after the computer has started in normal mode (winXP) it does not hold a internet connection. This coincides with about the time the pop-ups used to happen. Using mozilla Firefox. If I use IE the pop-ups and redirection happen immediately.

 

According to your HJT log you hane no Anti-Virus or Firewall applications running.

- Download this trial version of Ewido Security Suite

• Install ewido security suite
• Launch ewido, there should be an icon on your desktop double-click it.
• The program will have a window come up. One of the buttons on the left is to Update. Click the Update button.and then Start the Update. The update will start and a progress bar will show the updates being installed.
• After it completes the update, click the Scanner button

Now exit Ewido. Now print the below instructions or save them locally because I want you do have no browsers opened and also have no connection to the internet (unplug your cable) while doing the below.

Okay, reboot into safe mode and follow the steps below. (If you have any problems at all trying to get into safe mode to complete these steps, just run them in normal boot mode and make sure you tell me when you come back.)

Open up Ewido and do the following:

• Click on Scanner
• Then click Settings
• Under What to Scan? Select Scan every file
• Then click OK
• Click on Complete System Scan and the scan will start.
• Let the program scan the machine

While the scan is in progress you will be prompted to clean files that are infected. Leave the defaults selections (to Remove and backup) and click OK. To save yourself some time, you can select Perform action with all infections and then click OK. With the option to scan every file, a lot of cookies will be removed.

Once the scan has completed, there will be a button located on the bottom of the screen named Save report

• Click Save report
• Save the report to your desktop or anyplace you will be able to find it to upload here.

Reboot into normal mode and reconnect to the internet.

- Run HJT and save the log.

Now Post both logs as attachments.

 

Here are the logs:

 

A few more scans, and I think we'll have all the information I need; to clean your system.

Look for PSGuard in Add/Remove programs and uninstall it if found.

Download smitRem.exe and save the file to your desktop.

• Double click on the file to extract it to it's own folder on the desktop.
• Reboot into safe mode.
• Open the smitRem folder, then double click the RunThis.bat file to start the tool. Follow the prompts on screen. Wait for the tool to complete and disk cleanup to finish.

Please run Panda Online Scan. After the scan attach the log to your next post. Also please follow the below:

1 - Please EXTRACT all files from Qoologic Tool to its own folder - C:\Program Files\QoologicFinder . Then, DoubleClick Find-Qoologic.bat to run the tool. It should produce a log - Please attach that with your next post!

2 - Please EXTRACT all the files form RKFiles Tool to its own folder named C:\Program Files\RKTOOL. Then, Please boot to SAFE MODE and DoubleClick rkfiles.bat to run the tool. Let it run and then, when it finishes, look for a log at C:\Log.txt and please attach that log.

Now come back here and post all three logs as attachments and a fresh HJT log, you will need to do 2 posts to attach all 4 logs.

 

Update data

 

Update two:

 

Download
- Pocket Killbox

Now scan and have HJT Fix the following:

Now run Pocket Killbox:
Choose Tools > Delete Temp Files and click OK.

Run Killbox.exe. Paste the below filenames into KILL BOX one at a time. Check mark the box that says "Delete on Reboot" and checkmark the box "Unregister DLL" (If available) Click the RED X and it will ask you to confirm the file for deletion…say YES and when the next box opens prompting you to reboot now...click NO...and proceed with the next file. Once you get to the last one click YES and it will reboot. Note many of the file list below may not exist but we need to check for them anyway.

If Killbox does not reboot or you get a Pending Operations type error message just reboot your PC yourself.

Now boot into SAFE MODE

Open Windows Explorer navigate to and DELETE the following:

Now run Ccleaner (installed while running the READ ME FIRST). Now if running Win XP goto c:\windows\Prefetch and delete all files in this folder.

Now reboot in normal mode and post a new HJT log. And tell us how things are working.

 

Thanks Shadow_Puter_Dude,

I didn't think I would ever get rid of the problems on this computer. No pop-ups and no hijacking happening anymore.

The only problem I have now is that I lose connection after about five minutes. I have tried to uninstall and repair the connection with no luck. ( I had to write this post in notepad and copy and paste before the connection died.) Connection comes back when I reboot.

I have gmail notifier enabled and it does not lose connection and the connection still shows active in network connections but firefox and ie are the items unable to refresh after those five minutes.

Any ideas?

Attached is the lastest HJT log.

Thanks, Sean

 

You have no Anti-Virus and Firewall installed on your computer? Your log indicates that at least ZoneAlarm was installed at one time or another. Have you uninstalled ZoneAlarm? The reason I ask is that there is a ZA service running.

 

I have tried without success to remove the ZoneAlarm program. A search of the computer finds no program or folder called ZoneAlarm. The only virus and firewall program currently on the computer is Ewido Security Suite. At least that is what I was thinking was a package. If this is not a security package do you have suggestions as to a program to install.

I will search the registry to see if I can remove the remaining ZoneAlarm signature and see how things go from there.


Thanks!

 

A firewall and Anti-Virus protection is not part of the Ewido Security Suite. Ewido complements these services and adds an extra layer of protection for your computer.

Please read How to Protect yourself from malware!

Click on Start, then Run ... type services.msc into the box that opens up, and press 'OK'.

On the page that opens, scroll down to TrueVector Internet Monitoror vsmon (It will be one or the other) then right-click the entry, select 'Properties' and press 'Stop Service'. When it shows that it is stopped, next please set the 'Start-up Type' to 'Disabled'.

Open HJT and select 'Delete an NT Service" ... copy/paste the following into the box that opens, and press "OK":

TrueVector Internet Monitoror vsmon (Whichever you found above)

Now scan and have HJT Fix the following:

Now reboot in normal mode and post a new HJT log. And tell us how things are working.

 

I had gone into the registry and deleted any mention of the TrueVector. It no longer showed up in Hijackthis. However, I was still unable to stay online for more than about five minutes.

I then went into msconfig. Went to the services tab and disabled everything not either from microsoft or Ewido. Rebooted and still the same problem. It does not happen when I boot into safe mode with networking. At one point I also went into system, devices and uninstalled the network connection and it re-installed upon reboot.

Here is the latest HJT.

(Spent longer than the allowed five minutes in typing this and had to paste this from notepad.)

I am guessing that one of the microsoft files has some code attached to it and I am going to need to do a repair installation or something. But I will wait to hear from the experts before I do anything else.

 

First, stop doing things I don't ask you to do. Disabling stuff with MSCONFIG can often hide what is causing the problem, because it isn't running at system start.

 

None of your logs are no longer showing any type of Malware infection. You may want to post in software with this problem.

 

Thanks Shadow Puter Dude!

I never thought to get to this point without just breaking the computer.

I want to emphathetically thank you for all the time you have put into helping me. You Rock!


Sean

 

Thought you might like to see the solution. It was a ZoneAlarms problem.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=663828#post663828

I would have never gotten this far without you Shadow_Puter_Dude!

FINALLY DONE!!

(huge sigh of relief)